Charts Don’t Lie: April 20

Weekly review of the Hip-Hop and R&B sales/charts.

This week on the charts we see a new entry with Top Dawg's lady SZA, who made a strong debut considering it's her first release on the label/first release for sale. Similar to Isaiah Rashad's Cilvia Demo,which debuted at #40, SZA's Z debuted at #39 by moving 7,000 units. This proves the strength of the TDE fan base and the support they have for the label, no matter the artist and style of that artist. Pharrell continues to show strength on the Billboard 200, showing us that he's in this for the long haul. He may have lagged at first, but now he continues to go and up down, but never leave Billboard's top 10. We'll be interested in seeing how long he lasts. We can expect new entries soon enough, with August Alsina's Testimony having dropped on April 15th as well as Dizzy Wright's State Of Mind EP.

1) Pharrell— G I R L: It looks like Pharrell’s G I R L may be the sort of chart-topper that Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience was, in that it stays within the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for a lengthy period of time (although JT sold a ton off the bat, and that wasn’t really the case for Pharrell). Pharrell’s album continues to prove its longevity each week, and although he dropped to #9 last week he is back up this week at #2 spot. He increased sales by 18% and sold 29,000 copies in the process. His total sales are now 272,000.

2) YG— My Krazy Life: YG’s debut album drops two spots this week, bringing him down to #18 after 4 weeks of charting. The Bompton MC sold 11,741 copies while his grand tally currently stands at 112,029.

3) Rick Ross— Mastermind: The Bawse finds himself right below YG this week, coming in at #19. It’s only a one spot slip since last week. After charting for 6 weeks, Ross will soon be falling behind his counter-part Pharrell. The MMG rapper sold 12,857 copies with total sales at 301,525.

4) Eminem—The Marshall Mathers LP 2: You can’t get rid of Eminem too quickly. The rapper fell to #26 last week, but this week he’s once again on the rise at #23. After spending 23 weeks on the Billboard 200, he shows no signs of slowing down. MMLP2 moved 11,600 copies with total sales at 2,053,107.

5) Beyonce—Beyonce: Queen Bey is up a bit this week, at #21. The singer, who may be heading on tour with Jay Z this summer, moved out 11,000 units of her visual LP. Her total sales are about to break the 2 million mark (and thus be double platinum), with 1,929,359.

6) ScHoolboy Q— Oxymoron: Quincey continues to push copies of Oxymoron off the shelves, although not as many. The rapper did rise up two spots this week to #38, and sold 7,100 units. His total is 223,000.

7) SZA—Z : SZA, ScHoolboy Q’s TDE label mate, actually makes her Billboard 200 debut this week right below Q, funnily enough. The female singer enters the charts at #39, which is not shabby for her first release with the label. She sold 7,000 copies opening week.

8) Jhene Aiko— Sail Out: Jhene Aiko may soon be following up this EP with her Souled Out debut full length, but for now, the EP continues to put money in her pocket. This past week the Sail Out moved up the ranks by one spot, at #46, and sold 6,121 copies.

9) Drake— Nothing Was The Same: Drizzy is sitting below his “musical soulmate” (Jhene Aiko’s words) this week at #47, as he rises up 10 spots from last week’s #57. The rapper sold 6,100 copies while his total sales climbed to 1,535,000.

10) Justin Timberlake—The 20/20 Experience 2: JT’s second The 20/20 Experience also had a rise this week, from #66 to #52. The singer moved out 6,000 units, and his total sales have not quite reached platinum, but is almost there at 940,000.

Young Money's album Rise Of An Empire once again falls this week to #80, after spending 5 weeks on the charts. The compilation sold Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city continues to move copies off the shelves, coming in at #91 this week.The rapper sold 3,700 copies with a total of 1,234,000. Eminem's The Eminem Show is actually still charting right below K. Dot at #93. Finally, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis rise up one spot this week to #106.